The Hawksbill turtle is a critically endangered species. There are several that live in Bahia de la Chiva here on Vieques and I see at least one of them about 2/3 of the times I snorkel there. I had a nice 10 min swim with this one, which is the largest I’ve seen. He was just coasting along and was fairly easy to keep up with. The younger ones tend to be a bit more skittish and dart off as soon as you get very close.
We went to Playa la Chiva (aka Blue Beach) late in the afternoon a few days ago. I love to snorkel at that time because the light coming in at a low angle can make things light up almost like they’re on fire. The downside is that by that time the wind has been going for a while, so the water can be fairly churned up and cloudy.
This was my second chance to get out with the camera and try some photos. Between the cloudy water and the moderate waves, a lot of them didn’t come out very well. The barracuda photo would be an example, but I had to include it since it was the first time I got to snap a barracuda. This one is about 3 feet long.
The surprise for the day was coming across a flotilla of hundreds of dinner-plate-sized moon jellyfish. These were very active swimmers, going from totally flat to almost spherical on each stroke. They were mesmerizing to watch, looking almost like they glowed from within when they caught the afternoon sun.
When I was back in San Francisco my friend Brian loaned me his underwater camera to use until they come to visit in January. I got to try it out for the first time today. The water was moderately cloudy and it was mostly overcast, so not great light, but I was still fairly impressed with some of the results. All these shots were taken on the west side of Isla Chiva, an easy snorkel off Playa la Chiva (aka Blue Beach)
